Jump for Joy

For most people, this is Valentine’s Day. For me, it is Dobby’s birthday, and always will be. He was born in 2009, and would have been eleven this year, almost inconceivably ancient. Long after the Doofus Dances of his youth, that’s the way I still think of him: dancing and showing off his moves. Not all capybaras dance like he did, but JoeJoe sure did. Let’s watch JoeJoe do it!

Now let’s watch Dobby. He is warming up in this video, mostly spinning. After a nice swim, he would hop down his straw bale stairs and dance. The ducks and hens learned to clear out of there, because he was kind of a klutz.

Here’s a birthday card Garibaldi Rous sent to Dobby a couple years ago. They never met, but Gari and I were good friends. In the new book featuring Dobby, he and Gari are good friends. In real life, Dobby refused to wear hats, but he wears hats in the book.